Have One On Me

Joanna Newsom | Format: MP3 Music

Product Details

• Original Release Date: February 23, 2010
• Number of Discs: 3
• Label: Drag City
• Total Length: 2:04:01
• Genres:
  • Rock
• ASIN: B0039LXI3I
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (60 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,961 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 49 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Joanna's romantic phase February 23, 2010

By Mr. D. A. Jones

Format:Audio CD

I could quite legitimately be described as a Newsom fanboy. I have loved everything she has done from the helium voiced early Ep's to the intricate fables of Ys. I have seen her live 10 times, and would quite like to marry her. So I am biased, I admit it. At the same time, I think I have a sufficiently independent mind to judge each album on its own merits, and am able to hold my swoon long enough to engage my brain (this is not true at her concerts - she could sing me Uzbeki nursery rhymes backwards and I would be spellbound).

My initial reaction to 'Have One On Me' ( as with most of her output) was slightly puzzled and cautiously hopeful. I know from experience that the structure, punctuation and resonances of her work take time to settle and form, so I have let the music slosh through me and wash over me, holding back any critical judgement. And all of a sudden, as I hoped it would, the shape took form. While I have been familiar with some of these songs for a while now, it was a new new one, Go Long that seeded the crystal. The novelty of this album is a typically much longer melodic line, accompanied by a softer voice (brought about by a throat infection last year). The spacier, ringing arrangement of Go Long illustrates this change - gone are sharp points and counterpoints of The Book of Right On et al, or even the rush and tumble of Emily - instead she holds her voice, fluctuating or slowly descending around a slow, deliberate harp.

These songs are given much more musical space than the more wordy Ys, and this, combined with more varied arrangements and drawn out phrases, creates an initial impression of a hazy, unfocussed album. Once you catch the idea though, and let the slow ebb and flow of her newly sanded down voice carry you, you get it.... Be it singing of abortion on Baby Birch, or of her own conception on '81, this new 'romantic' sound chimes with a much more straightforwardly emotional approach to her subjects - love, in form and in content, fills these songs. There are a couple which have not made their mark with me yet, but the album as a whole, listened to seriously and in silence, is a great and humbling listen, and I did almost cry many times - the 'kindness prevails' close to Esme had me shivering uncontrollably, and the closing Does Not Suffice is desperately sad and dare I say it, moving.

I have not had the time or wit to trace the links between these songs, but it is clear that some phrases, both musical and lyrical, reappear in different guises throughout the album - their is half jaunty, half sad blues line that haunts both Baby Birch and Does Not Suffice. I am certain that, as with her previous works, listening and relistening will repay and repay. I am looking forward to the work. Read more ›

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Adventures of Jackrabbit & Kingfisher May 13, 2010

By Marc Cabir Davis

Format:Audio CD

If "Ys" from 2006 has taught us anything, its that eloquence & harmony can go together most remarkably, a fact that Joanna Newsom has attempted to replicate on this triple-disc project. As a standalone body of work it is peerless, as a companion piece to "Ys" it is transcendent, and as a cohesive statement about the artists' work, it is exemplary. However, despite the accolades that one might afford it, the project is indeed `difficult' and a labor to sit through, in portions. This is true even if one has been a Newsom follower for a while. It is also impossible to imagine taking all of this in during one sitting, as it is rather long-winded and deserves a dedicated amount of investment.

"Have One on Me" attempts to chronicle something, though of course the easiest word to ascribe to this is `relationship'. However, as "Ys" has shown us, the lyrical imagery birthed by her lyrics seem far removed from dry and mundane things such as humans and their romantic entanglements. That said, it is difficult to find the baroque, and indeed, medieval elements that made "Ys" so stunning, on this record. At best, this is a very different work, thematically and sonically, with various standouts at every juncture. Ironically, this listener found the much praised tracks ("Good Intentions Paving Company", "Does Not Suffice") to be amongst the weaker of the lot. It appears that Joanna really takes flight with the free-form tracks, and while she sounds pleasant enough on more conventional songs, it is her sprawling mess on the title track, and "Kingfisher" that automatically stand out....

The title track appears inspired by Lola Montez, a real life figure who at one point held sway amongst royal circles in Bavaria, and eventually threatened to bring down the Kingdom (her biography paints her all sorts of colors, but `not interesting' isn't one of them). She was acclaimed for her famous `spider dance' that reportedly ensnared the King of Bavaria who eventually alienated his entire parliament due to his inexplicable obsession with her. In reality, Lola Montez's story is even more fascinating as she became a notorious world traveler and engaged in all sorts of dubious professions before finally taking solace in Christianity. The song traces her journey upward (or whichever direction) and focuses on the prime of her life, which is when she was the talk of subcontinental Europe. As usual, Newsoms' verbose lyrics make this a trip worth taking.

Its also interesting to see that Newsoms' turn of phrase and verbal stylings have undergone a seachange since her last outing. Remember the almost Tolkien-like lyrics of "Emily", and most pointedly on "Only Skin" from "Ys". Gone are the Arthurian verbology of those times, and in its place is a more accessible, or should I say `suburban' sensibility to the songwriting herein. Songs like `Easy' are laughably simple, lyrically, that you wonder if Joanna hasn't traded in her quill for an urban typewriter. Regard this quaint lyric from "Go Long" and that should explain to you the general tone of the songwriting of this recording:

"Do you know why my ankles are bound in gauze
Sickly dressage, a princess of Kentucky
In the middle of the woods which were the probable cause
We danced in the lodge like two panting monkeys"

The strangeness of some of the lyrics are matched only by the curious musical arrangements. While "Ys" had an impressive string section with sweeping harmonies that appeared out of nowhere, this recording is far more subdued and a lot calmer, as it trades in those strings for more plaintive piano and harp arrangements. This is both a good and a bad thing as there is a certain `sameness' that permeates the entire album. While this worked to an extent on "Ys", the fact that it was a 5-track album perhaps masked the lingering suspicion that Newsom didn't have many tricks under her sleeve. But if you can get past the occasional `in a rut' passages (there are a couple of times where you would definitely feel `stuck' while listening to this, especially if you are attempting to listen to the 2+ hours at one stretch), you can appreciate the nuances that Newsom brings to the table as a composer. Indeed, there is nary a note out of place, nor a lyric that doesn't match itself to the melody, and for this she deserves high praise.

However, for many reasons, my personal favorite remains `Kingfisher' which appears at the end of this album. It's a big song, not as big as some of the others here but still very, very long and does not conform to any rhythmic structure. Its all over the place but eventually begins to rein it together towards the end as it ties together the various musical elements that came before it. The cryptic lyrics are double entendre, as they veer from straight-forward to masked, and the song can be construed in three very different fashions. Consider these words:

"We came by the boatload
And were immobilized
Worshipping volcanoes
Charting the loping skies
The tides of the earth
Left us bound, and calcified
And made as obstinate as obsidian
Unmoving, save our eyes
Just mooning and blinking
From faces marked with coal
Ash cooling and shrinking"

But as the song proceeds, such technicalities are left to the wind, as she becomes more direct, more personal, leading up to some of the best songwriting shes ever come up with:

"And I saw that my blood had no bounds
Spreading in a circle like an atom bomb
Soaking and felling everything in its path
And welling in my heart like a birdbath"

Joanna Newsom may be clubbed along with Devendra Banhart in the `freak folk' movement (a tag that I totally disagree with, by the way), but her ability to write is at least twenty times better than Banharts. Sonically she is moving closer and closer to indefinable territory. There are patches on this record where the newly ascribed Joni Mitchell comparisons seem valid, and there are other places where the Kate Bush comparisons seem resoundingly fair (the album does contain strains of `Hounds of Love', in all fairness). But with her mellowed-down voice, the more direct songwriting, the absolute disregard for musical convention, and her core work with her self-taught instrument - the harp, she has transcended genre and evolved into a completely new musical genre of her own. This is most evident throughout this album, and while "Ys" had hinted at it, "Have One On Me" confirms it.

As there is no living record that could possibly compare to this, save for Newsoms' own "Ys", perhaps you would do well to check out that record first before coming to this. For long-time Newsom aficionados this should be a breeze to get used to (but honestly, I see this album revealing itself over years, not months or days). However, if you could find beauty within "Ariel" by Kate Bush, "The Isle of Dreaming" by Kate Price (whose musical instrumentations can be readily compared to this record), "Parallelograms" by Linda Perhacs, and "Emily" by Emily Dilinger (long out of print, sadly), then this album will definitely work for you. Obviously Newsom makes music that will be discussed, heard, and dissected over generations of music lovers, so this ones for keeps. If any album by a male artist could come close to this, it would have to be "Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon" by Devendra Banhart.

Five Stars. An indispensable addition to your independent music collection. File next to Banhart, Vashti Bunyan, Jana Hunter, & Meg Baird. Read more ›

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars This is Newsom Perfected - and Plentiful February 7, 2011

By Gregory William Locke

Format:Audio CD

Yeah, sure, I know, it's been months since Have One On Me was released. Many months. But this is a triple album. And not just any 'ol triple album, a long, heavy, stylistically diverse triple album from one of today's most unique and indescribable musicians. The question, in this writer's opinion, is not "why did I take so long to review the record," but, rather, "how did all these other reviewers get to know these songs so quickly?" (In my world, you have no business writing a word about an album until you really get to know it.)

To say that Have One On Me is a whopper of a record is an understatement. Have One On Me, Newsom's third proper studio record and first since she released her modern day classic, Ys, is beautiful stuff - elegant even. Absolutely original, and in many, many different ways - no doubt about that. The real questions here are simple: 1) Is Joanna Newsom able to build on the majesty and mystery of Ys, and, if so, how could that even be possible? and 2) Did she really need to release a triple album?

We'll start with question No. 2. Yes, she needed to release a triple album. Why? Well, because the style of music Newsom makes is overwhelming. Taking up about 124 minutes of disc space, Have One On Me could've easily fit on two discs with room to spare. But Newsom, wisely, I think, split her songs up into three separate pieces, by doing so, keeping her listeners from feeling overwhelmed. I was skeptical at first, and thus slow to play along. Eventually I started digging in, getting to know one disc at a time, spending about a month or two with each disc before moving on to the next - no matter how strong the urge to jump ahead was. The result? About nine months of never-boring and very-frequent Newsom-love.... The only other proper triple album I ever kept in my collection, The Clash's Sandinista!, is a great one, for sure, but not the kind of album that you can explore for the better part of a year. No, only Have One On Me, and endlessly interesting listen, offers that much entertainment. (And maybe Bitches Brew.)

For starters, the record is far more accessible than the previous two Newsom records - flirting with jazz, pop and even blues genres, as well as her usual outsider folk sound. The songs, averaging about six minutes in length (some are nine minutes, some three) and all pretty elaborately composed, almost all feel like little journeys, full of musical twists and turns - vocals leading the way at almost every second of every song. Like Ys, there are plenty of string arrangements and, of course, Newsom's signature harp playing. But we also hear a healthy amount of piano and, most importantly (to my ears, at least), a whole new vocal style. While Newsom claims that her voice changed due to "natural reasons and health problems" (which very well may be true), it seems like she's been slowly developing her singing style since her debut, leaving behind her once overbooked style in favor of a more natural, elegant approach. Needless to say, she's become one of the best and most creative American vocalists around - not just her voice, but the many different ways she uses it, adding buckets of nuance to every line.

I've seen where other reviews have compared Newsom to Laura Nyro, Kate Bush and Joni Mitchell. Meh. Sure, I think fans of those ladies would love Newsom ... but all four artists so have their own thing going on. I could go on, describing the songs and why I like them so much, talking about all the different ways Newsom has adapted her signature sound in order to warrant putting out the unthinkable - a triple record. I could talk about how dreamlike and pixie-friendly her lyrics continue to be, or how mysterious she, in general, continues to be. I won't. This is one of those records that you just have to hear - over and over again - to understand. And, honestly, despite this being a challenging and long record, the chances are good that you might even like much of it - which isn't something I would've ever felt comfortable saying about Newsom before this record. There are even songs here that could be confused as college radio single fare, if you can believe it.

In closing, I'd like to add a third question: 3) How lucky are we to have such a unique voice working in her prime? And not just a unique artist working in her prime, but a young, growing artist who is so generous that she'll release a triple album! Before the release of Have One One Me I was constantly asking myself how good Joanna Newsom really is. Sure, her first record, 2004's The Milk-Eyed Mender, was a good freak-folk listen, but I always felt it was a bit schtick-y, mostly due to her then-extreme vocal style. Ys, a record I consider to be something of a landmark in the history of modern indie music, was the record that made me a solid fan. But, to this day, I've wondered about that album. Not only did Newsom have the brilliant Jim O'Rourke working on the record, but she had the legendary Van Dyke Parks on her studio team - as well as Steve Albini and Bill "Smog" Callahan. How could you not make a great record with such company?

Speculate no more. Not as long as Have One On Me - a record made by an artist who has clearly gone through a period of deep and diverse genre exploration - exists. Sure, there are a handful of lesser songs here, but that's expected when you release over two hours of new, non-jammy studio music. The bulk of the record is as amazing as anything Newsom has ever done, solidifying her place as not just one of the best of her time, but a matchless artist who appears to be an absolute genius of craft and style. An amazing record that should've been in my Top 5 of 2010, and the best triple record since 1980's Sandinista!, if not ever. Read more ›